BNZ taps high potential start-up customers

“BNZ taps high potential start-up customers in ground breaking new initiative with Kiwi Landing Pad”

Auckland / San Francisco February 15th 2016 Four Kiwi start-ups touch down in Silicon Valley this week to spend a month in the innovation capital of the world with support from their bank as part of a ground breaking new initiative from the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ).

Auckland based Pageproof, Weirdly and Populate join Dunedin’s Cloud Cannon as the first cohort hand picked to receive support from BNZ which includes cash, business advisory support and free office space at Kiwi Landing Pad (KLP) during their time in market.

“BNZ provides practical support to its entrepreneurial customers as their key banking partner. We extend our support to sector conferences and events like this, that can help give customers the edge and introduce them to export opportunities. Our sights are set on the technology sector and the export potential for the New Zealand economy. This is just one of many ways we support our customers in a range of industries” says BNZ’s Head of Small Business, Harry Ferreira. BNZ and KLP worked together to identify a small group early stage companies who were also BNZ customers and invited them to participate in the programme.

KLP Chairman and co-founder John Holt described the programme as “unprecedented” in its approach: “The risk of supporting entrepreneurs indirectly is you can end up with a lot of the value diluted through the recipients not being completely ready to take best advantage of that support. By proactively scanning the ecosystem and doing some pre work you can be a lot more targeted and valuable to participants” The programme will see each company drive their own schedule of activity while also having a number of events and conference opportunities provided with access to the KLP advisory team, community networks and office space during their time in market.

The month kicks off with participants attending the SaaStr conference, widely recognised as the world’s largest Software as a Service (SaaS) event globally. Participants will also attend an exclusive NZ event with several senior Silicon Valley start-up execs, SaaS founders, and VPs of Sales & Marketing attending as guests to share insights and advice in an intimate setting.

At the end of the month, participants will also attend Startup Grind where as part of the programme they will have access to the exhibition floor to demonstrate their products and engage with potential customers, partners and investors.

KLP Global Community Manager Sian Simpson is excited about hosting the new programme and its potential to accelerate the participants’ journey to growth and success. “You can get lost here very quickly as a start-up entrepreneur coming in. The fact that there is so much intensity in Silicon Valley around technology and innovation is a strength and a weakness (if you don’t have a focused plan) – the KLP Hub and Community can help you navigate through that landing more efficiently and successfully and we are delighted to be working with BNZ and their customers”.

Participants will be providing regular updates on their progress throughout the month and will also be available for direct media interviews and enquiries.

ENDS

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